Reduced band gap absorber for solar cells

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatuses for a dual heterojunction multijunction solar cell are disclosed. A method in accordance with the present invention comprises growing a base material for a solar cell, growing at least one dual heterojunction on the base material, and growing an emitter on the at least one dual heterojunction. An apparatus in accordance with the present invention comprises a substrate, and a first subcell, coupled to the substrate, wherein the first subcell comprises a base region, coupled to the substrate, an emitter region, and at least one dual heterojunction, coupled between the base region and the emitter region, wherein the at least one dual heterojunction has a lower bandgap than the emitter region.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation under 35 U.S.C. Section 120 of thefollowing co-pending and commonly-assigned application:

U.S. Utility application Ser. No. 11/305,967, filed on Dec. 19, 2005, byChristopher Fetzer, Dmitri Krut, David Joslin, and Richard King,entitled “REDUCED BAND GAP ABSORBER FOR SOLAR CELLS,” docket numberPD-05-0319;

which application is incorporated by reference herein.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

This invention was first conceived and demonstrated with Governmentsupport under Contract No. F29601-98-2-0207 awarded by the United StatesAir Force. The Government has certain rights in this invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to solar cells, and, inparticular, to a method, apparatus, and article of manufacture of areduced band gap absorber for solar cells.

2. Description of the Related Art

Solar energy created through the photovoltaic effect is the main sourceof power for most commercial and government spacecraft. The amount ofpower generated by an array of solar cells is limited by the launchvolume and launch weight. These restrictions limit the capability of thespacecraft. Similarly, any terrestrial solar cells are limited by thesize of an array that can be installed in a given installation.

To be able to increase payload capability, or power delivery capability,the power per unit area for the solar cell array must be increased.Increasing the efficiency of the solar cell is of primary importance forenabling near-earth missions. The dominant solar cell technology forthis application is a combination of subcells comprising Gallium IndiumPhosphide (GaInP), Gallium Arsenide (GaAs), and Germanium (Ge), which istypically called a triple-junction, or “3J”, device.

The current best efficiency of a 3J device at the Beginning Of Life(BOL) is 28.6%, which degrades over time to an End Of Life (EOL) finalpercentage. Solar cells used in space must survive for up to fifteenyears in an environment rich in atomic oxygen and energetic sub-atomicparticles, which degrades the solar cells significantly. The generalobjective of any change in the design of solar cells is to reduce thecost of the device, the BOL efficiency, or to decrease the rate ofdegradation such that the EOL efficiency is higher as well.

Several approaches have been used to try to make solar cells moreefficient or less costly. One approach is to use a multiple quantum-well(MQW) approach, which makes the efficiency go up but also makes thecells much more expensive because of the tolerances required to make anMQW structure. Other approaches use layer thickening, additional subcellstructures, or mismatch of the subcell materials, each of which adds tothe cost as well as the weight of the cell, limiting the usefulness ofsuch approaches.

It can be seen, then, that there is a need in the art for more efficientsolar cells.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To minimize the limitations in the prior art, and to minimize otherlimitations that will become apparent upon reading and understanding thepresent specification, the present invention provides methods andapparatuses for a dual heterojunction multijunction solar cell. A methodin accordance with the present invention comprises growing a basematerial for a solar cell, growing at least one dual heterojunction onthe base material, and growing an emitter on the at least one dualheterojunction.

Such a method further optionally includes the base, emitter, and atleast one dual heterojunction being in a top cell of a triple-junctionsolar cell, the at least one dual heterojunction being at least 200angstroms in thickness, the at least one dual heterojunction being astack of alternating low bandgap materials and barrier materials, the atleast one dual heterojunction being contained within a depletion regioncreated by the base material and the emitter, and a material for the lowbandgap material being gallium arsenide.

An apparatus in accordance with the present invention comprises asubstrate, and a first subcell, coupled to the substrate, wherein thefirst subcell comprises a base region, coupled to the substrate, anemitter region, and at least one dual heterojunction, coupled betweenthe base region and the emitter region, wherein the at least one dualheterojunction has a lower bandgap than the emitter region.

Such an apparatus further optionally includes a second subcell, coupledbetween the substrate and the first subcell, the at least one dualheterojunction being at least 200 angstroms in thickness, the at leastone dual heterojunction being a stack of alternating low bandgapmaterial and barrier materials, the at least one dual heterojunctionbeing contained within a depletion region created by the emitter regionand the base region, and a material for the dual heterojunction beingone or any alloy combination (continuous or digital) of: GaAs, GaInAs,GaInAsN, GaInAsNSb, GaInP, GaPN, GaInPN, InPN, InN, InNAs, GaInPAsN,InP, AlGaInP, GaAsP, AlGaAs, GaInAsP, GaSb, InSb, InAs, Ge, SiGe, SiGeC,SiGeSn, ZnGeAs, ZnGeSiAs, CuAlGaInS, CuAlGaInSe, as long as the alloy isof lower band gap than the host surrounding barrier layers and/orbase/emitter material(s).

An alternate embodiment of the present invention comprises a dualheterojunction region of at least 200 angstroms thickness, the dualheterojunction region being contained within a depletion region of thesolar cell, such that the dual heterojunction region generatesadditional current in the solar cell by absorbing incident light withinthe dual heterojunction region.

Such an embodiment optionally further includes the dual heterojunctionregion being in a top subcell of a multijunction solar cell.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to the drawings in which like reference numbers representcorresponding parts throughout:

FIG. 1 illustrates a triple junction solar cell of the related art;

FIG. 2 illustrates a subcell in a triple junction solar cell of therelated art;

FIG. 3 illustrates a subcell in accordance of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic of a well of lower band gap enclosed byregions of higher band gap material as used in the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of the spectral response of an AlGaInP topsubcell with and without the dual heterostructures of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate comparisons between a standard cell, a MQWcell, and a DH cell of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating the steps of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following description, reference is made to the accompanyingdrawings which form a part hereof, and which is shown, by way ofillustration, several embodiments of the present invention. It isunderstood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural changesmay be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Overview

The current 3J concept of GaInP/Ga(In)As/Ge is not optimal. This occursbecause the layers are grown one on top of another epitaxially, and, toperform such growth, the lattice spacing of the materials must be verysimilar. The lattice constants for the material restricts the choices ofmaterials available for cell combinations. Since the cells areelectrically connected in series, the cell producing the lowest currentwill limit the current produced by the entire cell stack. As such, thecurrent produced by each of the subcells should be approximately thesame, or the excess current produced generates waste heat.

The natural GaInP material in the stack produces too much currentcompared to the Ga(In)As subcell. Typically, the GaInP subcell isthinned to balance the current. The optimal bandgap for a balancedcurrent from the GaInP subcell is 2.0 eV.

To balance the current in the top and middle subcells of a 3J solarcell, there must be relatively thick layers of GaInP (usually AluminumGallium Indium Phosphide, or AlGalnP) and GaAs (usually Gallium IndiumArsenide, or GaInAs). Costwise, the thicker the layer, the moreexpensive it is to produce. Further, the device will weigh more, andwill be more susceptible to degradation due to larger layers having alarger radiation exposure. To create a bandgap of 2.0 eV in AlGaInP,approximately four times as much material must be used to balance thecurrent with the middle cell. As can be seen, this increases cost,weight, and decreases EOL efficiency.

MQW approaches have thinned the upper layers somewhat, but the quantumwell layers now must be extremely thin. Thinner layers absorb lesslight, and, as such, many quantum wells must be employed to allow enoughlight to be absorbed to generate enough gain from the device. Typically,between 10 and 100 wells of an average thickness of 75 to 100 angstromseach are used. The advantage of quantum well generation of current isthat the quantum confinement raises the allowed states in the well abovethe bandgap of the material, which usually provides for lower darkcurrents and a higher voltage for the quantum well compared to the bulkmaterial. However, the elevated energy of the allowed states resultsfewer long-wavelength photons that can be absorbed and lower currentdensity, imposing a penalty for cell performance in the multiple quantumwell approach. Moreover, the MQW approach is typically accompanied by aloss in open circuit voltage, as well as additional costs to create thelarge number of very thin layers.

The present invention uses a small number of lower bandgap regions inthe intrinsic or depletion region of one or more of the subcells of thesolar cell. The regions are sufficiently thick so as not to be quantumwell in nature, and relatively shallow such that generated carriers mayeasily escape. The required energy profile or substructure of the lowband gap absorber region is arbitrary, which allows for lower toleranceson the fabrication of devices made using the present invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a triple junction solar cell of the related art.

Cell 100 has regions where metal gridline 102 and a GaAs cap 102 coverthe cell, and an Anti-Reflective (A/R) coating 103 covering the topsubcell window 104. Top subcell 105 is typically an AIGaInP subcell,which has a Back Surface Field (BSF) 106. Top Tunnel Junction (TJ1) 107is resident between the top cell 105 and the middle subcell window 108.Middle subcell 109 is typically GaInAs, or GaSbAs, which has a TunnelJunction (TJ2) 110 between subcell 109 and a buffer layer 111. Anucleation layer 112 is placed between buffer layer 111 and thesubstrate 113, which is typically Germanium.

Incident light 114 strikes top surface 116 and is converted toelectrical voltage and current in the top subcell 105, middle subcell109, and the substrate 113. The top subcell 105, middle subcell 109, andsubstrate 113 each typically convert different wavelengths of light intoelectrical energy, and the subcells 105 and 109 and substrate 113 arechosen such that the wavelengths of light overlap to some degree toincrease the efficiency of the solar cell 100.

FIG. 2 illustrates a subcell in a triple junction solar cell of therelated art.

Subcell 200 shows an upper structure 201, a subcell window 202, anemitter 203, an intrinsic or depletion region 204, a base region 205, aBSF 206, and a lower structure 207. Although shown as an n-type onp-type subcell 200, a p-type on n-type subcell 200 can be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. FIG. 2 illustrates atypical top subcell 105, or middle subcell 109, with the adjoiningsubcell windows, BSF, etc. used for such subcells in a solar cell 100.

The problem with the related art is that height h 208 of base region 205increases exponentially for top subcell 105. This effect occurs becausethe solar cell 100 is connected in series. The lowest current generatingportion of solar cell 100, i.e., one of subcell 105, 109, and substrate113, limits the current produced for the overall solar cell 100. The topsubcell 105 is the limiting factor in terms of current generation, and,as such, the top subcell 105 must be made thicker in height 208. 2.0 eVis the optimal bandgap by theory for top subcell 105. To produce a 2.0eV top subcell 105, it must be thicker, which takes longer to grow andthus becomes more costly. Further, these thicker cells are more easilydegraded by space environments, which depend on minority carrier traveldistance through the cell. The thicker the cell, the farther minoritycarriers must travel. A degraded lattice structure prevents minoritycarriers from travelling very far without scattering or recombination.

Insertion of Low Band Gap Regions

FIG. 3 illustrates a subcell in accordance of the present invention.

Subcell 300 is shown with an upper structure 310, subcell window 302,emitter 303, low bandgap material 304, barrier material 305, low bandgapmaterial 306, barrier material 307, base region 308, BSF 309, and lowerstructure 310. Rather than a single intrinsic region 204 as shown inFIG. 2, the present invention uses a stack of low band gap materials inthe depletion region between emitter 303 and base 308 to build up the2.0 eV top subcell (or any other subcell in solar cell 300). There canbe a larger or smaller number of low band gap materials 304, 306 in aperiodic or non-periodic structure, having a typical thickness w 312,and a larger or smaller number of barrier material regions 305, 307having a typical thickness b 314, resident on top of base 308 having athickness h 316. Each pair of low bandgap material 304/barrier material306 is typically referred to as a Dual Heterostructure (DH).

Each low band gap material 304, 306 is a well layer, where w 312 is thedepth of the well. For quantum well structures, w 312 combined with b314 is typically less than 200 angstroms. However, in the presentinvention, w 312 combined with b 314 is greater than 200 angstroms, andtypically a few hundred angstroms, because the wells are notsufficiently thin to entrap a generated electron and change its quantumcharacter, thus, there is no quantum confinement of generated electronsin specific energy states in layers 304 and 306. The present inventionallows for the building of low band-gap regions (e.g. 304, 306) in thedepletion region between emitter 303 and base 308, where these low bandgap regions absorb light below the bandgap of the higher bandgap base308 material. The current that is produced by generating electron-holepairs as carriers, which are then swept from the depletion region (wherelayers 304-307 are) and collected at the higher band-gap emitter 303 andbase 308 materials.

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic of a well of lower band gap enclosed byregions of higher band gap material as used in the present invention.

The width w 312 of the absorber region (low band gap regions 304 and306) has a depth 402. This depth can represent the difference to eitherthe conduction band or the valence band of the material to show theconfinement in the absorber regions 304 and 306. For a GaAs DH in anAlGaAs material with a depth of approximately 100 meV, the thickness isabout 200 angstroms. At lower thicknesses, the DH begins acting like aquantum well, with the energy level of the lower bound state in the wellbecoming substantially higher than be bandgap of the well material. Inthe DH considered here, the influence of the quantum effect on thelowest energy transition in the well becomes indistinguishable from thebandgap, such that the lower bound state is within a fraction of theavailable thermal energy. When the DH is too thick, the quasi-Fermilevels in the depletion region may collapse to that of the low bandgapmaterial and there will be a voltage drop in the open circuit voltage ofthe device 300. Further, the low bandgap regions (304, 306 and thebarrier materials 305, 307) must be fully contained within the depletionregion created by emitter 303 and base region 308. The depletion regionis dependent upon the dopant densities of emitter 303 and base 308; aslong as the DH pairs are located within the depletion region, theelectric field in the depletion region accelerates the charges out ofthe DH and aids in their collection in the emitter 303 and base 308.Without the electric field, the generated carriers will remain in the DHand generate only dark current, which lowers the voltage and does notcontribute to the current generated by the device 300.

Experimental Results

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of the spectral response of an AlGaInP topsubcell with and without the dual heterostructures of the presentinvention.

Chart 500 shows the quantum efficiency on the x axis versus wavelengthon the y-axis, with squares representing the efficiency of a related art3J cell, and circles representing the efficiency of a 3J cell with theDual Heterostructures of the present invention. The DHs used in thestructure were 250 angstroms thick, and there were three periods of DHsused in this experiment. Note that the solid line 502 shows thedifference in efficiency of the device with the DHs present versus therelated art 3J solar cell.

The related art solar cell has an AIGaInP top subcell (shown as element105 in FIG. 1) having a bandgap of 1.98 eV and the base thickness (shownas base 205 in FIG. 2) having a thickness 208 of 7000 angstroms. Notethat there is not a change in absorption coefficient in changing to aquantum state with an inflection or step function density of states,and, as such, the DHs are not acting as quantum wells. There is a netgain of 0.550 mA/cm2 for the addition of the absorber region. This netgain came at the addition of approximately 1000 angstroms of thickness.To achieve a similar gain by traditional methods, eight quantum wells of90 angstroms each could be added, or the base layer 205 could bethickened by about 5000 to 7000 angstroms of thickness. Therefore, thepresent invention saves a net of approximately 4000 to 6000 angstroms ofmaterial. Since this material accounts for approximately 50 percent ofthe growth cost, the savings is approximately 25 percent of the totalgrowth cost to produce a 1.98 eV AIGaInP top subcell 300 over a similartop subcell 200.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate comparisons between a standard cell, a MQWcell, and a DH cell of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows the open circuit voltage for a standard cell 600, for anMQW cell 602, and a DH cell 604. The average of 1.527 Volts for astandard cell 600, 1.517 Volts for an MQW cell 602, and 1.516 Volts fora DH cell 604 of the present invention, along with the error bars, showthat there is no degradation in open circuit voltage for the DHapproach.

FIG. 7 shows the spectral response current for a standard cell 700, foran MQW cell 702, and a DH cell 704. The MQW cell 704 has an increase of0.46 mA average over the standard cell 700, and the DH cell 704 has a0.42 mA average gain over the standard cell 700.

Flowchart

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating the steps of the present invention.

Box 800 illustrates growing a base material for a solar cell.

Box 802 illustrates growing at least one dual heterojunction on the basematerial.

Box 804 illustrates growing an emitter on the at least one dualheterojunction.

CONCLUSION

In summary, embodiments of the invention provide methods and apparatusesfor a dual heterojunction multijunction solar cell. A method inaccordance with the present invention comprises growing a base materialfor a solar cell, growing at least one dual heterojunction on the basematerial, and growing an emitter on the at least one dualheterojunction.

Such a method further optionally includes the base, emitter, and atleast one dual heterojunction being in a top cell of a triple junctionsolar cell, the at least one dual heterojunction being at least 200angstroms in thickness, the at least one dual heterojunction being astack of alternating low bandgap materials and barrier materials, the atleast one dual heterojunction being contained within a depletion regioncreated by the base material and the emitter, and a material for the lowbandgap material being one or any alloy combination (continuous ordigital) of: GaAs, GaInAs, GaInAsN, GaInAsNSb, GaInP, GaPN, GaInPN,InPN, InN, InNAs, GaInPAsN, InP, AlGaInP, GaAsP, AlGaAs, GaInAsP, GaSb,InSb, InAs, Ge, SiGe, SiGeC, SiGeSn, ZnGeAs, ZnGeSiAs, CuAlGaInS,CuAlGaInSe, as long as the alloy is of lower band gap than the hostsurrounding barrier layers and/or base/emitter material(s).

An apparatus in accordance with the present invention comprises asubstrate, and a first subcell, coupled to the substrate, wherein thefirst subcell comprises a base region, coupled to the substrate, anemitter region, and at least one dual heterojunction, coupled betweenthe base region and the emitter region, wherein the at least one dualheterojunction has a lower bandgap than the emitter region.

Such an apparatus further optionally includes a second subcell, coupledbetween the substrate and the first subcell, the at least one dualheterojunction being at least 200 angstroms in thickness, the at leastone dual heterojunction being a stack of alternating low bandgapmaterial and barrier materials, the at least one dual heterojunctionbeing contained within a depletion region created by the emitter regionand the base region, and a material for the dual heterojunction beinggallium arsenide.

An alternate embodiment of the present invention comprises a dualheterojunction region of at least 200 angstroms thickness, the dualheterojunction region being contained within a depletion region of thesolar cell, such that the dual heterojunction region generatesadditional current in the solar cell by absorbing incident light withinthe dual heterojunction region.

Such an embodiment optionally further includes the dual heterojunctionregion being in a top subcell of a multijunction solar cell.

The foregoing description of the preferred embodiment of the inventionhas been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. Itis not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to theprecise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possiblein light of the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of theinvention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by theclaims appended hereto and the equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device, comprising: at least one structurecomprised of a well layer contained within a region of barrier layers,wherein the well layer is comprised of a first composition comprising analloy of GaInAs, the barrier layers are comprised of a secondcomposition comprising an alloy of GaAs or GaInAs, and the well layerhas a lower band gap than the barrier layers; the structure is coupledbetween an emitter and base, wherein the emitter and base are comprisedof a third composition comprising an alloy of GaInAs, and the structurehas a lower bandgap than the emitter and base; the structure issufficiently thick that quantum confinement of a generated electron doesnot occur; and the structure functions to absorb light below a bandgapof the emitter and base, and to produce a current by generatingelectron-hole pairs as carriers that are emitted and collected at theemitter and base.
 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the structure has athickness of at least 200 Angstroms.
 3. The device of claim 1, whereinthe structure is sufficiently shallow so that the carriers escape. 4.The device of claim 1, wherein the structure, emitter and base comprisea subcell of a multijunction solar cell, and the structure is configuredto produce a current balanced to other subcells in the multijunctionsolar cell connected in series to the subcell.
 5. A device, comprising:at least one structure comprised of a well layer contained within aregion of barrier layers, wherein the well layer is comprised of a firstcomposition comprising an alloy of GaInAs, the barrier layers arecomprised of a second composition comprising an alloy of AlGaAs, GaInAs,or AlGaAs and GaInAs, and the well layer has a lower band gap than thebarrier layers; the structure is coupled between an emitter and base,wherein the emitter and base are comprised of a third compositioncomprising an alloy of GaInAs, and the structure has a lower bandgapthan the emitter and base; the structure is sufficiently thick thatquantum confinement of a generated electron does not occur; and thestructure functions to absorb light below a bandgap of the emitter andbase, and to produce a current by generating electron-hole pairs ascarriers that are emitted and collected at the emitter and base.
 6. Thedevice of claim 5, wherein the structure has a thickness of at least 200Angstroms.
 7. The device of claim 5, wherein the structure issufficiently shallow so that the carriers escape.
 8. The device of claim5, wherein the structure, emitter and base comprise a subcell of amultijunction solar cell, and the structure is configured to produce acurrent balanced to other subcells in the multijunction solar cellconnected in series to the subcell.
 9. A device, comprising: at leastone structure comprised of a well layer contained within a region ofbarrier layers, wherein the well layer is comprised of a firstcomposition comprising an alloy of AlGaAs, InGaAs, or AlGaAs and InGaAs,the barrier layers are comprised of a second composition comprising analloy of AlGaAs, InGaAs, or AlGaAs and InGaAs, and the well layer has alower band gap than the barrier layers; the structure is coupled betweenan emitter and base, wherein the emitter and base are comprised of athird composition comprising an alloy of AlGaAs, InGaAs, or AlGaAs andInGaAs, and the structure has a lower bandgap than the emitter and base;the structure is sufficiently thick that quantum confinement of agenerated electron does not occur; and the structure functions to absorblight below a bandgap of the emitter and base, and to produce a currentby generating electron-hole pairs as carriers that are emitted andcollected at the emitter and base.
 10. The device of claim 9, whereinthe structure has a thickness of at least 200 Angstroms.
 11. The deviceof claim 9, wherein the structure is sufficiently shallow so that thecarriers escape.
 12. The device of claim 9, wherein the structure,emitter and base comprise a subcell of a multijunction solar cell, andthe structure is configured to produce a current balanced to othersubcells in the multijunction solar cell connected in series to thesubcell.